Tag: finance

Via Disobedient Media

On March 1st, 2017, the New York Post reported the suicide of Kevin Bell, head of credit risk at British hedge fund Arrowgrass Capital Partners LLP. He had previously worked at Saba Capital Management, Citadel Investment group, Citigroup and Deutsche Bank, according to his Linkedin page. An investigation into Arrowgrass Capital Partners in the aftermath of his death has revealed that Arrowgrass was connected to think tanks tied to DNC propaganda chief David Brock, has ties to a number to individuals and corporations with histories of fraudulent financial activity and uses a web developer which appears to be a shell company. Mr. Bell’s suicide provides a glimpse into a more shadowy element of the finance world where the line between legitimate business and organized crime becomes increasingly thin.

I. Number Of Arrowgrass Employees Had Come From Sabu Capital Management, Arrowgrass Is Connected To Establishment-Run Think Tanks

Arrowgrass Capital Partners appears to have had a number of employees present at their firm who had recently come from Sabu Capital Management. In November 2015, Bloomberg reported that Paul Andorio, a former partner at Sabu, was joining Arrowgrass to work alongside Bell in credit risk. Andorio was one of multiple former Sabu employees who had recently moved to Arrowgrass after the firm had lost several employees in its credit trading group.

The presence of multiple former employees from Sabu at Arrowgrass is interesting given the colorful history of Sabu’s founder. Boaz Weinstein is a chess and gambling savant turned hedge fund manager. Weinstein has achieved a legendary status in the financial world, although his career has been marked by controversy. In 2012, the New York Times reported that Weinstein was one of a number of traders who benefitted from a “hunch” about multi-billion dollar losses incurred by JP Morgan after a number of bad transactions that were booked through its London branch. Mr. Weinstein was also accused of fraud in 2015 by Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) after Saba Capital reduced the value of PSP’s portfolio right before paying out on a redemption request, marking the value back up shortly after the money was cashed out.

Weinstein’s connections to the world of organized crime were revealed when it emerged that he was a member of a private, high stakes poker group along with billionaire and Avenue Capital Group cofounder Marc Lasry. In 2013, Lasry was forced to withdraw his name from a list of contenders for Obama’s U.S. Ambassador to France when it emerged that the FBI was sniffing around his “close friendship” with Illya Trincher. Trinchner, an alleged Russian mobster, was arrested along with three dozen others in connection with a $100 million betting and money-laundering scheme that included Hollywood personalities accused of facilitating illegal gambling events for celebrities such as Tobey Maguire, Matt Damon, and Leonardo DiCaprio and was laundering money through a Carlyle hotel art gallery. Lasry’s Avenue Capital Group has teamed up with Donald Trump in the past as Trump attempted to navigate the mob-controlled gambling scene in Atlantic City. Weinstein’s various connections to crime figures and his penchant for courting accusations of fraud raise questions about why Arrowgrass was bringing on so many employees from Sabu Capital Management in the years before Mr. Bell’s suicide.

The head of Arrowgrass Capital Partners, Michael Edwards, is also affiliated with centrist think tank Third Way. Despite its purported mission to return politics to a more neutral, middle of the road environment, Third Way recieves most of its funding from Wall Street donors and in effect serves as little more than an outlet for ideas which promote the interests of their donors. Third Way and other special interest-supported figures such as David Brock have been widely panned by the media for promoting censorship and propaganda instead of substantive ideas. Brock has directly involved Third Way in conferences held with donors in the past and is utilizing Third Way employees in efforts to help the DNC regain power in the 2018 congressional elections.

II. Arrowgrass’ Web Developer Appears To Be Front Organization

In addition to having ties to firms with suspicious connections, the group providing online support for Arrowgrass appears to be a front organization, listing an address that leads to a small, nondescript building as its office despite having a multitude of large name clients in finance. Arrowgrass’ website lists CAPTEC Systems as its web developer. CAPTEC’s other clients include several Swiss accounts such as Argentière Capital, set up in 2013 by J.P. Morgan’s former global head of prop trading Deepak Gulati, and LindenGrove Capital. LindenGrove was founded by Borut Miklavcic, the former head of global inflation trading business at the infamous Lehman Brothers who also began his career at JP Morgan.

An examination of the listed address on CAPTEC Systems’ website leads to a small structure in Oxford, England that does not even feature CAPTEC’s logo on the exterior. The nondescript, ramshackle building is odd given CAPTEC’s role as a web developer for several multibillion dollar corporations.

The apparent anomalies with Arrowgrass’ web developer and its connections to various Swiss groups run by individuals tied to companies involved in the 2008 financial crisis creates questions about what appears to be either a front company with no real place of business or CAPTEC’s attempt to conceal the true location of their office.

It is not clear what caused Mr. Bell to take his own life earlier this month, although in 2015 a deal with Foundation Capital to buy Deutsche Bank’s stake in Arrowgrass Capital came undone amid speculation that Arrowgrass’ principals did not wish to dilute their ownership, and that the head executive of Foundation was facing a contempt-of-court order over debts he owed to Los Angeles based City National Bank. While an anonymous source informed the New York Post that Bell was depressed, Arrowgrass’ use of an apparent shell company for their web development and the presence of a number of employees at Arrowgrass from Sabu Capital Management raises concerns given the accusations of fraud that have been levied against the group and their founder’s connections to figures involved in organized crime.

via http://ift.tt/2nkghUF William Craddick

Authored by Judith Bergmann via The Gatestone Institute,

• Uninhibited by the obvious fear of their citizens, the EU nevertheless carries on its immigration policies.
• Ironically, Western political elites consider this clearly widespread sentiment against Muslim immigration "racist" and "Islamophobic" and consequently disregard it — thereby empowering anti-immigration political parties.
• "Islam has no place in Slovakia…. [the problem is not migrants coming in, but] rather in them changing the face of the country." — Robert Fico, Prime Minister of Slovakia.

Europe, so many years after the Cold War, is ideologically divided into a new East and a West. This time, the schism is over multiculturalism. What Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has termed "liberal babble" continues to govern Western Europe's response to the challenges that migration and Islamic terrorism have brought, especially to personal security.

The Western European establishment considers arming oneself against terrorists, rapists and other ill-wishers outlandish, even in the face of the inability of Europe's security establishments to prevent mass terrorist atrocities, such as those that took place in Paris at the Bataclan Theater or the July14 truck-ramming in Nice.

The European Union's reaction to terror has been to make Europe's already restrictive gun laws even more restrictive. The problem is that this restrictiveness contradicts the EU's own reports: these show that homicides committed in Europe are mainly committed with illegal firearms.

In Eastern Europe, on the other hand, it is still normal to want to defend yourself. Last summer, Czech President Milos Zeman even encouraged citizens to arm themselves against Islamic terrorism. "I really think that citizens should arm themselves against terrorists. And I honestly admit that I changed my mind, because previously I was against [citizens] having too many weapons. After these attacks, I don't think so".

Since the president's remarks, the Czech Interior Minister, Milan Chovanec, has proposed extending the use of arms in the event of a terrorist attack. He explained that despite strict security measures, it is not always possible for the police to guarantee a fast and effective intervention. Fast action from a member of the public could prevent the loss of many lives.

Such reasoning, often seen as laughable in Western Europe, reflects an understanding of the fear that has become a recurring theme on the continent. In Germany, a recent poll showed that two out of three Germans are afraid of becoming the victim of a terrorist attack and 10% perceive an "acute threat" to their safety. Among women, the figures were even higher. 74% responded that they sometimes feel unsafe in crowded places, and 9% said they felt permanently threatened and scared.

Western European leaders, on the other hand, pretend not to understand this fear. In 2015, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was asked how Europe could be protected against Islamization. Merkel, who does not move without her own personal security team consisting of 15-20 armed bodyguards around her, working in shifts, answered: "Fear is not a good adviser. It is better that we should have the courage once again to deal more strongly with our own Christian roots." In December, she told members of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who were asking how to reassure the public about integrating migrants, "This could also broaden your horizons." (This is the same Merkel, who in 2010 said that multiculturalism had "utterly failed").

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (center) was asked how Europe could be protected against Islamization. Merkel, who has a personal security team of 15-20 armed bodyguards around her, working in shifts, answered: "Fear is not a good adviser." (Image source: Paralax video screenshot)

As Western Europeans are discovering, however, that the state is increasingly unable to protect them, they have begun acting on their fears:

In France, a survey showed an increase of almost 40% in gun license requests since 2011. "Before the beginning of 2015, it was only a vague trend. Since the 'Charlie Hebdo', Bataclan and Nice attacks, [gun license requests] have become a growing phenomenon", wrote Le Nouvel Observateur.

 

In Belgium, requests for gun license applications soared in one major province, Liège, doubling in just five years. "The explanation may lie in the current security context, which generates feelings of insecurity among the population", said officials from Liège's Arms Service, the state body in charge of granting gun licenses in the province.

 

In the wake of mass sexual attacks by migrants in Cologne, major German cities all reported an increase of requests for weapons permits. Cologne police estimated that they received at least 304 applications within just two weeks of the mass sexual assaults. In 2015, the city's police force saw only 408 applications total over the entire year.

 

Switzerland has also seen a drastic rise in gun permit applications, with all 12 cantons reporting an increase from 2015. Interim 2016 figures show a further escalation. "There's no official explanation for the rise, but in general we see a connection to Europe's terrorist attacks," said Hanspeter Kruesi, a police spokesman in the Swiss canton of St. Gallen.

 

Gun sellers in Austria also said that interest in weapons grew after a large number of refugees arrived. "Fear is very much a driving force," said Robert Siegert, a gun maker and the weapons trade spokesman at the Austrian Chamber of Commerce.

Uninhibited by the obvious alarm of their citizens, the EU nevertheless carries on its immigration policies. "I believe Europeans should understand that we need migration for our economies and for our welfare systems, with the current demographic trend we have to be sustainable," said Federica Mogherini, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy. She added that the continent "does not and will not close its doors" to migrants.

Mogherini is probably not interested in a recent Chatham House study, in which an average of 55% of the people across the 10 European countries surveyed wanted to stop all future immigration from mainly Muslim countries. Only two of the countries surveyed were from Eastern Europe. A ban was supported by 71% of people in Poland, 65% in Austria, 53% in Germany and 51% in Italy. In the UK, 47% supported a ban.

Ironically, Western political elites consider this clearly widespread sentiment against Muslim immigration "racist" and "Islamophobic" and consequently disregard it — thereby empowering anti-immigration political parties.

Several countries in Eastern Europe, such as Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, have refused to take in more migrants, and several Balkan countries have completely closed their borders.

Czech President Milos Zeman has openly stated, "The experience of Western European countries which have ghettos and excluded localities shows that the integration of the Muslim community is practically impossible".

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has dismissed multiculturalism as a "fiction". He has also refused to accept EU-agreed quotas on relocating migrants saying, "It may look strange but sorry … Islam has no place in Slovakia." He added that the problem is not migrants coming in but "rather in them changing the face of the country."

Western Europe has predictably responded with accusations of "Islamophobia" and "fanning hatred towards minorities and refugees". One EU state, Luxembourg, even suggested expelling Hungary from the EU for its refusal to toe the EU line and, according to Luxembourg, for treating asylum seekers, "worse than wild animals". Hungary's prime minister, Viktor Orbán, in turn, harbors little respect for the way that his Western European colleagues have shaped politics: "We are experiencing now the end of an era: a conceptual-ideological era," Orbán told supporters in 2015, "Putting pretension aside, we can simply call this the era of liberal babble. This era is now at an end."

via http://ift.tt/2npraBt Tyler Durden

Taking a bold authoritarian step towards fighting online hate speech, Germany intends to pass a law that would fine social media outlets up to $53m for failing to delete hateful comments within a designated time frame.

Out of all the social media outlets, YouTube is the best at monitoring hate speech, with a 90% removal rate inside a week. Facebook was second at 39% and Twitter an abysmal last at just 1%.

Lots of hate happening on Twitter these days. Evidentially, something will have to be done about that.

“This (draft law) sets out binding standards for the way operators of social networks deal with complaints and obliges them to delete criminal content,” Justice Minister Heiko Maas said in a statement announcing the planned legislation on Tuesday.

Germany tried to do this the nice way, proposing a pledge to jointly fight hate speech on the social networks back in 2015. Alas, the time for soft words and half measures is over. All those who do not conform to these rules shall be punished, severely.

In Germany, hate speech is taken very seriously, often doling out harsh fines and even prison sentences for holocaust deniers or inciting acrimony against minorities. But in the era of free online speech, Germany finds themselves lacking in the authoritarian department. God willing, these new laws will put an end to that.

The Central Council of Jews in Germany welcomed the new law.
“We do not want an internet police or thought control,” the council’s president, Josef Schuster, said. “But when hatred is stoked, and the legal norms in our democracy threaten to lose their relevance, then we need to intervene.”

The new law mandates a code of conduct to be enforced, removing illegal material, reporting on the volume of complaints and to make it easier for other people to tell on one another. After all, it is the duty of the citizenry to report illegal activity, whenever they might encounter it.

To help fight against illegal comments, Twitter has introduced new automated tools that help identify abusive bahvior, screen out anonymous profiles like Le Fly, and simply block illegal content.

Over at Facebook, Zuckerberg has hired the help of fact finding services, like Snopes, Politifact and Correctiv to help rout out fake news, something that has been deemed unacceptable by all ruling factions.

It should be noted that Russian hackers are the prime cause for all of this upheaval, hacking away at the hearts and minds of millions of people — coercing them to partake in illegal online activities, winning elections for people favored by the Kremlin, and generally opposed to the rules of law set forth herein democratically free and prosperous republics.

via http://ift.tt/2monWgG The_Real_Fly

Conceived several years ago, “buy the (fucking) dip” was a joke among traders seeking to explain the market’s nearly-instant upward mean reversion, which as we have alleged since 2009, has been pushed higher by central bank policy and various HFT strats. Since then it has, sadly, become perhaps the only “explanation” for the behavior of the most bizarre market traders have ever encountered.

Luckily, the buy the dip quote-unquote “market” may be about to end, perhaps as soon as tomorrow, if Bank of America is right.

In a note titled “Reasons to increasingly fear, not love, the dip“, BofA analyst Nitin Saksena writes that a “faster US rate hiking cycle jeopardizes the buy-the-dip trade.”

His observations will be familiar to anyone who has tried to top-tick the S&P over the past 8 years, to short stocks, or to otherwise do anything besides “buy” (the dip):

Saksena writes that a “buy-the-dip mentality is dominating US equities as Fed put has become self-fulfilling. It has now been 104 trading days since the S&P 500 last fell by more than 1% (on a close-to-close basis), a stretch of calm in US equities not seen since 1995.”

Not paraphrasing the Onion, BofA then goes on to say that “this extreme buy-the-dip mentality is helping crush equity volatility, with S&P 3M realized vol now at a meagre 6.6% and in the 3rd percentile since 1928.”

What the BofA strategist says next will not make him any friends among the “smart money crowd” whom he accuses of just being mechancial BTFDers, whose only skills are those of videogamers reacting to a sharp move lower which they then promptly buy:

Perversely, US equity sell-offs have seemingly become embraced as alpha (i.e., buy-the-dip) opportunities instead of being feared as bona fide risk-off events, as the central bank put has become a self-fulfilling prophecy. The abnormality of this development is best appreciated through the lens of market volatility, in our view. Chart 9 shows that the speed with which S&P volatility collapses from a state of high stress back to calm has been escalating since the Aug-15 shock, culminating in unprecedented mean reversion during the 2016 US Presidential election.

So what breaks the buy-the-dip trade? According to BofA, the same entity that created it of course: the Federal Reserve.

Given its influence today on equity market dynamics, we think it is critical to understand what could eventually break the buy-the-dip trade and drive more prolonged market shocks.

 

In our 2017 Outlook, we outlined one scenario that has come sharply into focus recently with the Fed deliberately and rapidly shifting market expectations towards a March hike and investors now debating whether the onset of an old-school pattern of sequential rate hikes may in fact be imminent (Chart 10).

 

Specifically, we think that if the Fed is handcuffed by its primary mandates of managing employment and inflation (not to mention potential fiscal stimulus and Fed leadership changes), it would no longer have the luxury of being credibly dovish in the midst of the next exogenous shock to markets. This would push the strike of the “Fed put” lower and in turn weaken one of the key supports for the buy-the-dip trade. In other words, a 10% sell-off in the S&P 500 would not alter the reality of stronger – and slow-moving – employment and inflation data, thus constraining the Fed’s capacity to adhere to its adopted “third mandate” of targeting asset volatility.

 

Positioning is also a key element of our thesis. If cash continues to get pulled off the sidelines as markets rally and US equity positioning becomes sufficiently bullish, we think markets would be further at risk from investors selling rather than buying a dip.

So with as little as 12 hours to go before the Fed kills the BT(F)D trade, what are BofA clients to do? According to BofA, “Equity puts contingent on higher yields attractive to hedge buy-the-dip failure “

Should the buy-the-dip trade become jeopardized as we outline above, equity puts contingent on higher bond yields should be a well-suited hedge that also aligns with our strategists’ bearish view on rates. The nominal cost of equity put protection is already historically low today (e.g., the current premium of an SPX 6M 95% put is in the 3rd percentile over the past 10 years). Moreover, realized correlation between bond yields and US equities, which had fallen to historically negative levels ahead of the US election as yields rose while equities fell, has since rebounded sharply as yields have risen alongside equities (Charts 11 and 12).

So is it over? Is BTFD about to officially become STFR with Janet Yellen’s blessing? Tune in tomorrow around 3pm after the initial kneejerk reactions to Yellen’s statement and Fed “dots” to find out. And just in case BofA is right, here is the clip that started it all for old time’s sake:

via http://ift.tt/2nk5J7U Tyler Durden

Over the weekend we noted chatter that some saw Mike Pence as "the Deep State's insurance policy," and now, judging by tweets from Wikileaks' Julian Assange, that may well be the Clinton/Intelligence Officials plan…

Clinton stated privately this month that she is quietly pushing for a Pence takeover. She stated that Pence is predictable hence defeatable.

— Julian Assange (@JulianAssange) March 14, 2017

Adding that…

Two IC officials close to Pence stated privately this month that they are planning on a Pence takeover. Did not state if Pence agrees.

— Julian Assange (@JulianAssange) March 14, 2017

As The Daily Caller notes, Assange’s claims appear to come in response to reports that President Trump authorized the CIA to perform drone strikes on terrorists Monday evening…

By handing unilateral power to the CIA over its drone strikes at this time White House signals that bullying, disloyalty & incompetence pays

— Julian Assange (@JulianAssange) March 14, 2017

As we concluded previously, if Trump doesn’t adopt the Cold War 2.0 approach of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and is forced out of his own administration in the same manner as Flynn, it will become clear why once we learn who would replace him: Mike Pence.

No matter what one makes of Trump – or his administration and the policies that have been initiated thus far – the fact remains that Trump won the U.S. election. The people working behind the scenes to oust him are not subject to democratic controls, nor are they working in the best interests of the American public. We are left to ask ourselves exactly how renewing relations with Russia –  a nuclear power –  could possibly endanger American lives.

Either way, we are more or less left with two paths ahead of us. The first path involves Trump giving in and adopting an anti-Russian agenda, as is already apparent in his decision to send more ground troops to Syria alongside Saudi troops, who will intentionally oppose the Syrian regime (a close ally of Russia). The second involves the possibility of another direct coup within the Trump administration, this time one that may ultimately force Trump out of the White House so he can be replaced by Mike Pence, a war hawk who will be more than happy to do the job Hillary Clinton wanted to do.

via http://ift.tt/2mo46Bk Tyler Durden

Oil may have just stopped the Bank of Japan.

The fact is that in late September 2016, the Bank of Japan embarked on a new monetary policy of targeting a yield of 0% on 10-Year Japanese Government bonds.

What this means is that the Bank of Japan will intervene in the market to maintain a 0% yield, and this involves aggressively devaluing the Yen against the $USD. You can see this in the chart below.

This is the famed “yen carry trade” through which devaluing the Yen boosts risk assets. The reason it works as market manipulation is that 80% of market activity is now dominated by computer trading algorithms that operate based on correlations.

As soon as the Bank of Japan began this campaign, the algorithms synched up with the Yen/ $USD pair. Since that time, the correlational buying activity between this currency pair and US stocks has been extreme.

On a weekly basis the correlation was above .75 from mid-December until late January. It has since fallen somewhat but remains above 62%.

Let me repeat this… the correlation between the weekly moves of the $USD/YEN pair and the S&P 500 was over 0.75 for more than a month. This is statistically impossible unless you are dealing with outright manipulation via compute algorithms.

However, Oil appears to have finally ended this.

When the Bank of Japan engages in rampant devaluation of the Yen against the $USD is exports deflation into the west. The last time the BoJ did this in 2014, commodities experienced their worst collapse in 40+ years. Oil was what stopped this as it plunged 75%…forcing Oil producing nations to “call the Bank of Japan.”

The same scheme is playing out now. Thus far Oil has been immune to the Bank of Japan’s insanity… but no longer. And if the Yen/$USD pair does not stop dropping, OIL WILL CRASH.

Currently the Yen/ $USD pair suggests Oil is going BELOW $40 per barrel.

If you think last week’s carnage in Oil was bad… wait until you see what is coming. The rampers now have a choice… let stocks “go” or watch as Oil falls in HALF (the ultimate downside could be sub-30s).

Either way, a crash is coming… either in stocks or Oil.

On that note, we are already preparing our clients for this with a 21-page investment report titled the Stock Market Crash Survival Guide.

In it, we outline the coming collapse will unfold…which investments will perform best… and how to take out “crash” insurance trades that will pay out huge returns during a market collapse.

We are giving away just 99 copies of this report for FREE to the public.

To pick up yours, swing by:

http://ift.tt/1HW1LSz

Best Regards

Graham Summers

Chief Market Strategist

via http://ift.tt/2nBdQZP Phoenix Capital Research

As we noted last summer, the Obama administration’s constant gun control threats did little more than flood American homes with more guns as people looked to stockpile weapons ahead of anticipated new regulations.  In fact, both of Obama’s elections resulted in massive and unprecedented spikes in gun sales.

Meanwhile, Obama’s presidency was a boon for the gun manufacturers whose revenue, profitability and stocks all soared during his presidency.

But while the constant threat of new regulations under Obama resulted in a massive full forward of gun demand and pushed gun stocks to all-time highs, the election of Trump, and thus the removal of those threats for at least the next 4-8 years, is having exactly the opposite effect. 

If fact, Remington Outdoor just announced layoffs of 120 people at their upstate New York manufacturing facility due to sinking gun demand in the Trump era.  Per the Wall Street Journal:

Remington Outdoor Co. has laid off more than 120 workers at an upstate New York factory in response to falling demand for firearms, dealing a blow to an upstate village of 8,000.

 

Since Donald Trump’s presidential victory eased concerns about stiffer gun laws, the small-arms industry has seen a drop in sales. As a result, orders for Remington handguns have slowed, a company spokeswoman said Monday. That is “a dynamic from which Remington is not immune,” she said of the industry challenges.

 

The March 8 layoffs are a hit for Ilion, N.Y., where Remington has operated a plant since the 19th century, said Terry Leonard, mayor of the village located about 60 miles east of Syracuse.

 

“Should they ever just close down totally, it would be a total catastrophe for the entire area here,” the mayor said.

Meanwhile, other firearms makers, including American Outdoor Brands, formerly known as Smith & Wesson, say demand for weapons, particularly handguns, has been ebbing since Trump’s election.  Earlier this month the company posted disappointing sales and higher inventories and admitted to investors on their quarterly earnings call that business had slowed…all of which sent the stock into a downward spiral.

Meanwhile, Wedbush equity analyst James Hardiman expects FBI background checks, a good indicator of gun sales, to be down 10-15% in 2017.

Financial analysts said the possibility of new gun laws under the Obama administration almost certainly contributed to strong growth in gun sales last year.

 

“We do believe that having a Republican in the White House…negatively impacts gun sales in that it effectively eliminates any threat of new gun regulation for the foreseeable future,” said James Hardiman, managing director of equities research for Wedbush Securities Inc.

 

Mr. Hardiman forecasts a 10% to 15% decline in FBI background checks for 2017.

The gun industry is sure going to miss this guy:

via http://ift.tt/2nAXMrd Tyler Durden

In what may be his most vocal complaint aimed at the Republican party since the Trump presidential victory, prominent conservative voice Matt Drudge on Tuesday accused the GOP of “lying” about wanting tax cuts, and asked to “get his vote back.”

BTW, Republicans lied about wanting tax cuts. Can we get our votes back?

— MATT DRUDGE (@DRUDGE) March 14, 2017

Delays surrounding the repeal of Obamacare, which as Goldman earlier said will likely be postponed by several months if not longer following the controversial CBO report, will asure significant delays with the implementation of Trump tax cuts. Furthermore, the Republican healthcare plan would repeal most of ObamaCare’s taxes: a prospect that looks increasingly distant. Earlier this month, the Joint Committee on Taxation released estimates showing the repeal and delay of many of ObamaCare’s taxes in the GOP healthcare plan would result in more than $500 billion in lost federal revenue.

The Trump team’s reform plan “will reduce the tax rate on our companies so they can compete and thrive anywhere and with anyone,” the president said during an address to a joint session of Congress. He also said the plan “will provide massive tax relief for the middle class.”

In a separate tweet, Drudge also questioned the National Weather Service in light of Tuesday’s snowstorm.

“Lots of misses piling up. Overreaction by govts, bad forecasting very troubling trend!” he tweeted adding that “Trump should clear out climate hysterics from NWS. All storms grossly exaggerated. National Guard called for 3 inches? JFK closed? Laughable.”

What is going on with National Weather Service? Lots of misses piling up. Overreaction by govts, bad forecasting very troubling trend!!

— MATT DRUDGE (@DRUDGE) March 14, 2017

Trump should clear out climate hysterics from NWS. All storms grossly exaggerated. National Guard called for 3 inches? JFK closed? Laughable

— MATT DRUDGE (@DRUDGE) March 14, 2017

via http://ift.tt/2lX7k3u Tyler Durden

Having sent crude oil pries tumbling overnight by admitting they cheated on OPEC production cuts, Saudi officials are desperately trying to unwind that faux pas by claiming the over-production was purely for domestic storage. The problem with this "explanation" is that Saudi deliveries to China soared in January…

Bloomberg reports that Saudi Arabia didn’t raise supply to the international oil market in February, according to a person familiar with the kingdom’s oil policy.

The OPEC member increased the volume of oil in storage at domestic refineries and terminals last month, says the person, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public.

If that's the case then perhaps explain the surge in deliveries to China…

Additionally the unnamed officiasl claimed that OPEC cuts will continue to reduce oil stocks in Q2. Which is odd given that they are building their own storage (according to them) and US crude inventories are at record highs once again.

Of course the machines did not care and just auto-bid WTI…

We wonder how long the half-life on this jawbone effort will last?

via http://ift.tt/2n5YPmr Tyler Durden